In the history of nineteenth-century landscape
painting in the United States, the Luminists are
distinguished by their focus on atmosphere and
light. The accepted view of Luminist paintings is
(5) that they are basically spiritual and imply a tranquil
mysticism that contrasts with earlier American
artists’ concept of nature as dynamic and energetic.
According to this view, the Luminist atmosphere,
characterized by “pure and constant light,” guides
(10) the onlooker toward a lucid transcendentalism, an
idealized vision of the world.
What this view fails to do is to identify the true
significance of this transcendental atmosphere in
Luminist paintings. The prosaic factors that are
(15) revealed by a closer examination of these works
suggest that the glowing appearance of nature in
Luminism is actually a sign of nature’s
domestication, its adaptation to human use. The
idealized Luminist atmosphere thus seems to
(20) convey, not an intensification of human responses
to nature, but rather a muting of those emotions,
like awe and fear, which untamed nature elicits.
One critic, in describing the spiritual quality of
harbor scenes by Fitz Hugh Lane, an important
(25) Luminist, carefully notes that “at the peak of
Luminist development in the 1850s and 1860s,
spiritualism in America was extremely widespread.”
It is also true, however, that the 1850s and 1860s
were a time of trade expansion. From 1848 until his
(30) death in 1865, Lane lived in a house with a view of
the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and he
made short trips to Maine, New York, Baltimore,
and probably Puerto Rico. In all of these places he
painted the harbors with their ships—the
(35) instruments of expanding trade.
Lane usually depicts places like New York
Harbor, with ships at anchor, but even when he
depicts more remote, less commercially active
harbors, nature appears pastoral and domesticated
(40) rather than primitive or unexplored. The ships,
rather than the surrounding landscapes—including
the sea—are generally the active element in his
pictures. For Lane the sea is, in effect, a canal or a
trade route for commercial activity, not a free,
(45) powerful element, as it is in the early pictures of his
predecessor, Cole. For Lane nature is subdued,
even when storms are approaching; thus, the sea is
always a viable highway for the transport of goods.
In sum, I consider Lane’s sea simply an environment
(50) for human activity—nature no longer inviolate.
The luminescence that Lane paints symbolizes
nature’s humbled state, for the light itself is as
docile as the Luminist sea, and its tranquillity in a
sense signifies no more than good conditions on the
(55) highway to progress. Progress, probably even more
than transcendence, is the secret message of
Luminism. In a sense, Luminist pictures are an
ideological justification of the atmosphere
necessary for business, if also an exaggerated,
(60) idealistic rendering of that atmosphere.
1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing(A) the importance of religion to the art of a particular period
(B) the way one artist’s work illustrates a tradition of painting
(C) the significance of the sea in one artist’s work
(D) differences in the treatment of nature as a more active or a less active force
(E) variations in the artistic treatment of light among nineteenth-century landscape painters
2. The author argues that nature is portrayed in Lane’s pictures as(A) wild and unexplored
(B) idealized and distant
(C) continually changing
(D) difficult to understand
(E) subordinate to human concerns
3. The passage contains information to suggest that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements?(A) The prevailing religious principles of a given time can be reflected in the art of that time.
(B) In order to interest viewers, works of art must depict familiar subjects in detail.
(C) Because commerce is unusual as a subject in art, the painter of commercial activity must travel and observe it widely.
(D) Knowing about the environment in which an artist lived can aid in an understanding of a work by that artist.
(E) The most popular works of art at a given time are devoted to furthering economic or social progress.
4. According to the author, a supporter of the view of Luminism described in the first paragraph would most likely(A) be unimpressed by the paintings’ glowing light
(B) consider Luminist scenes to be undomesticated and wild
(C) interpret the Luminist depiction of nature incorrectly
(D) see Luminist paintings as practical rather than mystical
(E) focus on the paintings’ subject matter instead of on atmosphere and light
5. According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with(A) exploration
(B) commerce
(C) canals
(D) idealism
(E) mysticism
6. The author’s primary purpose is to(A) refute a new theory
(B) replace an inadequate analysis
(C) summarize current critics’ attitudes
(D) support another critic’s evaluation
(E) describe the history of a misinterpretation
7. The author quotes a critic writing about Lane (lines 25–27) most probably in order to(A) suggest that Luminism was the dominant of painting in the 1850s and 1860s
(B) support the idea that Lane was interested in spiritualism
(C) provide an example of the primary cultural factors that influenced the Luminists
(D) explain why the development of Luminism coincided with that of spiritualism
(E) illustrate a common misconception concerning an important characteristic of Lane’s paintings mode